I'm Bobby Flay.
Each week, one great chef will try to take me down in my house.
-I'm not worried about Bobby. -What!
-[all] Ooh! -This culinary battle is gonna shake down in two rounds.
Round 1: To get to me, two contenders have to go through each other
using an ingredient of my choice.
-[audience cheering] -Let's do it!
[Bobby] Two people that know me well will decide who's got the skills to beat me.
Round 2: I go head-to-head with the winning contender.
It's their turn to surprise me with their signature dish.
-Go! -[singing] ♪ Friendly competition!♪
-Is that distracting? -This is gonna be the first one I don't finish.
-Flay's in trouble! -Whoo!
-[Bobby] Bottom line... -No!
-...everyone's out to beat me. -[audience cheering]
All right, if you guys are looking for action
you've come to the right place. Let's do this!
[audience cheering]
Give it up for two incredibly talented people teaming up to take me down.
Award-winning actress, Gabourey Sidibe and Chef Damaris Phillips.
Raw! Raw! Raw! Raw! Raw! Raw! Raw!
-[cheering continues] -[laughs]
'Sup, ladies?
-Gabby, I can't believe you're here. -It's so great to be here!
-Are you from New York? -Yeah.
-[Bobby] Cool. -Yeah, I'm from Brooklyn.
-You're from Brooklyn. -Yeah.
[audience cheering]
-[yelling] Brooklyn in the house! -[Bobby laughing]
-All right, I'm a native New Yorker too. -Me too.
-No, you're not. -I am.
[all laughing]
[Bobby] And let's talk about the most important thing
which is that you're a cat lover like the two of us.
-Absolutely. -How many cats you got?
[Gabby] Two, which sometimes feels like seven.
[laughs] Wait, do you have a cat in your hair?
Oh, I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
-[Bobby] That is amazing. -I can't.
-[Bobby] So cool. -Made out of cat fur.
-[Bobby] Really, okay, great. -[laughing]
All right, anyway, do you cook at all?
-Yeah, no. Yes, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Yeah? [laughing]
Well, I'm Senegalese, and so I started making all these Senegalese dishes
-that my dad used to make. -[Bobby] Yeah, cool.
So, obviously you're here to get me beat, bringing some chefs.
-Yeah, we're gonna break you! -Okay.
-[Damaris imitates breaking] -[all laughing]
[Bobby] So let's get this thing going.
Our first contender traded in his drumsticks for chef knives.
The executive chef and owner of Mint Mark, Sean Pharr.
[audience cheering and applauding]
Yeah!
-Okay. -[Damaris] Okay.
All right. Your next contender is a activist-turned-chef.
From Atlanta, Georgia,
chef-owner of Che Butter Jonez, Malik Rhasaan.
-[audience cheering] -[Bobby] Yeah, Malik. Okay.
-Yeah! -Yeah. Step on 'em, Malik.
[Bobby] All right, Malik.
Sean and Malik, welcome. How you guys doing tonight?
-All right, brother. We good. -[Bobby] You good?
-Great. -All right. What's your goal tonight?
To show a guy from Queens can beat a guy like you.
All right. A lot of native New Yorkers in here tonight.
-What's your goal tonight? -My goal is to win 'cause I hate losing.
-[all laughing] -[Bobby] You hate losing, okay.
I'm gonna put 20 minutes on the clock,
I'm gonna give you an ingredient of my choice
and you must make that the star of your dish.
Tonight's ingredient is...
Dungeness crab.
[all] Whoa!
-What's the matter, Malik? -Uh, we gonna figure it out.
-[Bobby] Okay. [laughs] -[Malik] I've never worked with Dungeness crab before.
-I am stumped. -How you feeling about this?
-Pretty nervous actually. -[Bobby] Yeah.
I haven't worked with Dungeness crab, because I'm in the Midwest.
It's not something you would find.
It's all about the crab, crab, crab. You know how to get there.
Just like this. Sideways, baby. Do the crab dance.
-[bell ringing] -[audience cheering]
[Damaris] Yeah!
-You got it figured out over there? -No, not at all.
-[laughing] -So this is a whole Dungeness crab.
Now, they also have some Dungeness crab meat in there.
And I love Dungeness crab. It's that West Coast crab. It's so sweet.
-I love a sweet crab. -Yeah, the texture is nice and delicate.
So you gotta not overwhelm the crab.
-[Bobby] What would you do, Damaris? -Crab bisque.
I think in 20 minutes you could do that.
And what about out, like, a crab taco?
-Sounds delicious and I want one immediately. -Okay. Okay. [laughing]
[Damaris] Okay, I wanna see what they're doing.
Fifteen minutes and 30 seconds.
-How's it going over here, Malik? -All right. It's going.
-Boiled your crab. -[Malik] Yeah, I'm gonna do a crab salad.
-[Damaris] Okay, great. -I do a great chicken salad
with capers and onions, lemon juice.
I figured if it works in my chicken salad, it'll work here.
-Are you nervous? -Yes.
-Me to. Not for you, I'm just always nervous. -I'm nervous for me.
[all laughing]
I lived in South Jamaica, Queens the majority of my life
until I moved to Atlanta.
My influences definitely come from my family being immigrants.
My mother's from Bermuda, my father's side is from Jamaica.
My mom cooked a lot so...
When I got married, I did all the cooking.
And my wife suggested I get a food truck,
so I listened. [laughs]
After three and a half years, my wife and myself decided
to open up a brick-and-mortar called Che Butter Jonez.
Named one of Time Out's best new restaurants in the world.
Bobby, I'm in your house, and I got the skills to back it up.
-Hello! How's it going over here? -[laughs] Great.
-Feel like a-- -Really?
-No. I never... -[Damaris] Okay, no.
-...cooked a Dungeness crab before, so no. -Okay. What are you making?
So I'm gonna do a spicy crab gratin.
Saute it in some toasted garlic, shallot, Calabrian chili and some white wine.
-Wonderful. -Crab gratin is typically broiled,
there's some sort of cream element, some sort of cheese element
and, like, a crispy breadcrumb topping.
Because I'm not using a lot of other flashy ingredients,
I'm certain that the crab will be the star of the dish.
How do you feel about your competitor?
-It seems like he knows what's going on. -Oh, yeah?
[all laughing]
I started college to study music,
but cooking provided an instant gratification for me.
And that was something that music school just wasn't doing.
So I took a job at a restaurant called NoMI
and I got nominated by the Jean Banchet Awards for Best Chef-de-Cuisine
two years in a row. In 2017, I opened Mint Mark,
a small plates kitchen and craft cocktail bar in Madison, Wisconsin,
where I was nominated for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest.
Apparently, Bobby has a 66% winning record,
so it'd be really nice for a small-town chef like myself to beat such a superstar.
Sean's gonna make a crab gratin.
-Calabrian chilis, breadcrumbs. -That sounds good.
I add some heavy cream, and then I fold in the crab
and parsley and tarragon.
-[Malik] Cooking with gas now. -[Damaris] Malik, he's making crab salad.
Is he kinda taking the easy way out by, like, making a salad?
[Damaris] It's all gonna come down to the flavor that he puts in the salad.
Okay, Gabby, you're at a restaurant,
-which one do you order and why? -[Gabby] I'd order Sean's.
-I like a little meal with some presentation. -Mmm-hmm.
Next, I add capers 'cause who doesn't love capers?
That's what we got. Onions, Sriracha, mayo.
-[Bobby] All right, Gabby, go get 'em. -[audience applauding]
[Gabby] Hey, y'all. How y'all doing?
-[Gabby] Hey, Malik. -[Malik] What's up, Gabs?
I don't wanna get in your area but also I'm trying to get up in your area.
So I'mma do a crab salad on some type of toast or something.
-Are you nervous? -[Malik] Yes.
-'Cause I could get the crowd cheering for Malik. Everyone! -[audience cheering]
Whoo!
-Let's also hear it for Sean! -[Malik] Whoo!
[audience cheering loudly]
-Doin' it, Sean! You're doin' it! -[Sean chuckles]
-What you got going? -I'm doing a little bit of a
-Dungeness crab gratine. -[Gabby] Ooh, okay. Are you nervous?
-I am nervous. -Do you see what Malik's doing over there?
-Did you see that beard? -[Sean] Yeah, it's serious.
-I'd be afraid of that. -[all laughing]
[Sean] Once the crab is in the cast iron dishes,
I sprinkle 'em with the breadcrumbs
and move 'em to the salamander to get that golden-brown delicious look on top.
-See you, Sean. -[Sean] See ya!
-[Gabby] Three minutes to go! -[audience cheering]
Sean over there, I saw a lot of parmesan,
-you know that's gonna be delicious. -[Bobby] Yeah.
I hope he has time to get the top crispy.
[Sean] So while the crab's in the salamander,
I grab a couple lemons to do, like, a burnt lemon element.
-[Gabby] Sean's garnishing with some charred lemon too. -[sizzling]
-That's very French. -Exactly. Like,
-"You have lemons? Oh, we have charred lemons!" -M'kay!
-Malik is a tiny bit nervous. -Yeah.
-Something is burning. -[Damaris] No, no, no, no, no.
-[Malik] It's definitely burnt toast. -This is very stressful.
[Malik] I'm like, "I'm gonna put this on this plate because
I'm committed to getting something on the plate."
-Twenty seconds, y'all. -Are you serious?
-[Damaris] Girl... I know! -[Gabby] Wow!
[Malik] I add the crab salad to the bread.
[Sean] I grab a little bit more fresh parsley and sprinkle it over the top.
-[all] Ten, nine... -[Sean] Set it on the block
-and I set the burnt lemon next to it. -...eight, seven,
-six, five, four, three, two, one. -[bell dings]
-[audience cheering and applauding] -Yeah!
I look over to see what Malik made.
I don't know what's in between those two slices of bread, but it better be great.
When I look over at him, I'm like, "Wow, that's dope."
I got bread and salad. I'm going home.
Bobby, are you crabby 'cause you know you're gonna lose tonight?
You're gonna need to come out of your shell, Bobby, to win this tonight.
-Ready. -[audience laughing]
Chef Sean, what'd you make?
I made a spicy crab gratin, breadcrumb on top, and, uh,
a little bit of burnt lemon to drizzle on it.
This is a really delightful dish.
The breadcrumbs are crusty. Mmm.
However, all the liquid is very much on the bottom
and I do wish there were a bit more spice.
For me, it's just a little bit watery.
And the Calabrian chili was a great choice.
I wish that there was a little bit more of it because there's so much cream.
It becomes a little bit one note.
Okay, Malik, tell us what you made.
Crab salad. We got some capers, some garlic, some lemon juice.
-I usually don't make crab, but we made it happen. -[Bobby laughs]
-We had low expectations when we saw this dish. -[laughs]
But, it's seasoned well, the red onion and the green onion is very nice.
The capers are a bold choice, the mayonnaise, just right, so it's super creamy.
The choice of bread is good, it's just, like, the way it was executed is not good.
Yeah, you definitely burnt your bread but
there's a little bit of the spice and heat that I was looking for.
I love the garlic taste, it's not too wet.
-It feels like cohesive crab salad. -Thank you.
If you'll give us a moment to discuss.
I honestly feel like I got this
because of how badly burnt the bread was.
The chef that will be moving forward is...
-Chef Malik! -[audience applauding and cheering]
[Gabby] Yeah, it's you! Yeah, it's you!
[Sean] Congratulations, brother.
What just happened?
-It was great. Thank you. -Thank you.
I guess I'm going home, because I chose to burn the lemon instead of the bread.
This flavor punch you managed to pack into this,
and not overwhelm the crab, that speaks of somebody who understands flavor.
And you can beat Bobby, and we're gonna do everything in our power
to distract Chef Bobby Flay.
[all laughing]
All right, Malik, what's your signature dish?
My signature dish is...
-salmon cakes. -All right, salmon cakes.
-Yeah! -I haven't made salmon cakes in a long time.
-Okay. -[Damaris] We have three industry experts
standing by to do a blind taste test.
-That's not the show I signed up for but go on. -[all laughing]
Forty five minutes on the clock, and your time starts now!
[audience cheering]
Yeah!
Salmon cakes, they're cakes made out of salmon.
-Oh, my God. Is that how that works? -It's so shocking, right?
It's very, very similar to a crab cake. Growing up we had 'em with canned salmon.
But Malik is using fresh salmon so it is much more elevated.
And then the bread crumbs, eggs and all of your herbs.
There's also a lot of vegetable for some texture and some crunch.
[Damaris] Typically, they're pan fried so they're seared off.
The inside is still nice and tender
and served with some kind of a creamy sauce.
-[Gabby yelling] Hey, Malik? -Yes, ma'am.
Why did you choose this as your signature dish?
That's what my momma used to do.
-Aw! -Okay, come on, momma. Give it up for mommas!
[audience cheering and applauding]
I call 'em Carmelita cakes after my mom.
If she made salmon on Friday, we had salmon cakes for breakfast on Sunday.
It's just a comfort thing. I give it a little island rhythm, if you will,
with couscous steeped in orange juice,
red peppers, green peppers, green onions, cilantro.
Served with Brussels sprouts and a lemon caper tartar sauce.
[yelling] Hey, Bobby! Do you have salmon cakes on your menu at all?
I've had 'em in the past. You know, ancient times.
-[audience laughing] -Right, of course, in the 1600s,
-when you were in your 30s. -[Bobby] The 1600s, exactly.
-[all laughing] -[Bobby] So, I'm making crispy salmon cakes
with a Aji Amarillo sauce and some avocado relish.
I want it to be a very smooth texture,
so I'm going to poach the salmon very gently with some lemon and water.
I don't love poached. Instead of intensifies the flavor of salmon,
it kind of, like, mellows it out.
You know, the salmon cakes can be rich,
and so I want something to cut through it a little bit.
Some lemon juice, honey, little mayonnaise,
some vinegar and the Aji Amarillo,
which is a South American yellow chili pepper.
I wonder if he could... Can you see this?
-Can you see that? Can you see that? -[audience laughing]
-Yes, I can. -Chase it!
[all laughing]
Where are your fighter instincts?
Come on! You're a hunter, Bobby!
-Nacho would not be proud of you right now. -[Bobby] No.
Nacho would be... He would disown you.
-[all laughing] -Well, like, so, here, I have a few videos.
-I'm gonna go introduce Bobby to my cats. -[Damaris] Okay.
-We're coming up on 27 minutes! -[audience applauding]
-[Gabby] Bobby. -What's happenin'?
Hi, I was just wonderin' if maybe you wanted to, like, meet my cats?
-Oh, yeah. Oh, look at them! -That's... I know.
-That's Derrell and that's Aaron... -[Bobby] Oh, Derrell.
-...and that's me on the toilet. -[all laughing]
[Gabby] And this is my mom's cat, Pearl.
-[laughing] -I met her yesterday for the first time. How cute is she?
-Adorable. -[Gabby] She's so little!
All right, well Nacho's gonna send your cat some food.
-I'm gonna hold you to that, Bobby. -You got it.
-How do you pronounce that? Aji-- -Aji Amarillo.
Ooh, is it very, very spicy?
-Like, is it hot? -You wanna taste the sauce?
[Gabby] Yeah.
[audience laughing]
-What do you think? -[gagging]
[Gabby] Oh!
Oh, where can I put the spoon?
I hate it! [coughing] Get it away from me.
Thank you, it's very hot. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.
-Now I hate you, Bobby, bye! -[all laughing]
-Wassup? Wassup? -Hey, boo.
-What we doing over here? -[Malik] We got my mother's salmon cakes going.
-[Gabby] Mmm-hmm. -[Malik] I don't know what he's trying to do.
Lucky that I am not the judge, I hate couscous.
-What about pearl couscous? -I never heard of her.
-Now, who is Pearl Couscous? -[all laughing]
[Malik] It's a little thicker, it's a little bigger.
-Oh, she a thicky, thick Pearl Couscous? -She thicky.
-Yeah. [laughs] -I might like that couscous.
-Ooh, those Brussels sprouts? -[Malik] Yes.
[yells] We're having vegetables over here instead of just weird sauce, Bobby.
All right, I guess I'll leave you alone since there is 23 minutes.
-Yeah. -[audience applauding and cheering]
My salmon's done. I throw it in the blast chiller,
flake it up a little bit.
And soon I'll be ready to make the patties.
So, like, over here we're getting Brussels sprouts
and Brussels sprouts are, like, my fav.
The couscous does look very, very orange
-because of the orange juice. -[laughing]
[Damaris] I hope it keeps the salmon cakes nice and moist.
But, if he doesn't get the ratio right,
it might make his salmon cakes fall apart.
-[bleep] -Oh, no!
Yeah, I think Malik accidently cut his finger.
This is not looking good.
-You all right? -[Malik] Yeah, I'm good.
But I'm still thinking I can make it happen.
I just do what it takes. I'm from Queens.
-How you feeling about time? -I almost cut my thumb off, but we all right.
Okay. Bobby, how you doing, buddy?
-Hanging in there. -So, I tasted the Aji Amarillo sauce.
Honestly, it was very spicy and, like, a little thick.
For the base of these salmon cakes, I start sauteing some shallots.
I fold it into the salmon with some Dijon mustard,
whole grain mustard, some fresh basil.
What are you serving your salmon cakes with?
Some avocado relish, I think.
It's crushed avocados, some cilantro, a little bit of lime.
So it's kind of a cooling effect for the spiciness of the sauce.
[Gabby] We're gonna go on a field trip to mess with Bobby.
-Do you have the laser? -Oh, yes, yes, yes, I got it.
[laughs manically] Thirteen minutes to go.
What's the difference between this and guacamole?
-[Bobby] Nothing. -What are you... Why are you calling it relish?
-What gives you the right to call it relish? -Exactly, Bobby.
-[Bobby laughs] -[Gabby and Damaris] Who do you think you are?
[all laughing]
-Oh, my God. We are like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. -Twins!
-Hey! -[audience laughing]
So I'm gonna make a dredge line.
I start with some quick-dissolving flour,
and then from the eggs to the panko breadcrumbs and then into the fryer.
I wanna go deep fry route because I know they're gonna be
consistent and crispy on all edges and that's the key.
-Okay, Malik. -Yes, ma'am.
-[Damaris] How you feeling? -I'm feeling--
We're here for you, Malik. We're gonna get
-the crowd going, huh? -[Damaris] I know.
-[all cheering] -We gonna get everybody dancin'!
-Okay. -Dancin' for Malik! Dance! Dance!
-Y'all something. I appreciate you. -[Damaris] The whole crowd
-is here for you. -[Gabby] The whole crowd. We're all here.
-[Damaris] We are all here for you. -[audience cheering]
This is a tartar sauce I make all the time.
You got capers, mayo, sweet pickles, some red onion and lemon juice.
-Good luck, Malik only. -Bobby...
[all laughing]
I add my salmon to the mix and I'm realizin'
it's a little looser than I would like it.
I think I put too much couscous and my salmon wasn't chilled enough.
If it could have congealed a little more, it would've been fine.
-But time doesn't allow that. -Six minutes on the clock y'all.
Deep fried versus pan fried.
-I have to say pan fired. -Me too!
[Gabby] 'Cause deep fried gets too oily and it's, like, the salmon's fatty enough.
-You lose all the flavor of the salmon. -Yeah.
But it looks like Malik's salmon cakes are falling apart a little bit.
That's okay. Those cakes are gonna have time to firm up on the plate.
-[Gabby] Mmm-hmm. -[Malik] I gotta do it.
I'm not getting the texture on my salmon cakes that I require.
So I'm thinkin' maybe I can trick the palate a little bit
and so I have my Brussels sprouts and I throw 'em in a deep fryer.
-Maybe we should cheer Malik on, crowd? -[audience cheering]
[Gabby] Yeah! Let's give it up for Malik!
-The king of salmon cakes! -[Damaris] Malik, we have one minute and twenty seconds.
-You gonna finish? -I'll get something out for you.
You're gonna finish.
I put one salmon cake on the plate.
I put the Aji Amarillo sauce on the bottom of the plate.
The salmon cakes on top.
[all] Ten, nine...
[Bobby] And the avocado relish on top of the salmon cakes.
-[all] Six, five. -[Malik] I add tartar sauce and then I top them with
-fried Brussels sprouts. -[all] Three, two, one!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Malik] My texture is off, but I'm happy I got them on the plate.
I'm happy I have all my fingers.
[Bobby] I think my salmon cakes are good but
Malik's a fighter. I think he's tough to beat.
Bobby, Malik, now we would like to introduce you to the judges.
First up, the chef and owner of Lil' Frankie's and Supper, Frank Prisinzano.
Executive chef, Michele Ragussis.
Director of operations for Burger & Lobster US, Danny Lee.
[audience applauding]
Please start with the first salmon cake.
I'm loving the caramelization on the Brussels sprouts.
I love that bittersweet combination and the color on the salmon itself.
It's a really pretty plate and the flavors all come together really well.
The veggies mixed in there gives it a nice crunch.
The lemon-caper aioli gives it a nice little balance.
However, the cake itself is a little bit too rustic
in terms of what you want out of a salmon cake.
Because he cut the vegetables so large,
it caused the cake to fall apart.
And it's more like a hash than it is a cake.
But the flavors are really good.
It's just more of an execution,
you know, he needs to make a little adjustment there.
Thank you, judges. We're gonna have you switch your plates.
It's crisp on the outside. I love the sauce. Maybe a little too much heat.
A little bit too zingy, but it's a perfect cook for salmon cake for me.
I'd have to agree and then the Aji Amarillo sauce,
that does compliment well with the avocados.
[Frank] But why put avocado on this?
There's so much fat going on.
It's like too much of a fat overload.
It's like fat on top of fat on top of fat.
We're gonna ask you to take a vote.
♪ Dun-dun-dun-dun♪
On a scale of 1-10, I give myself a strong six against Bobby Flay.
Hopefully, one of the judges bumped their head.
[laughs]
And the winner is...
No one's happy about this, but Chef Bobby Flay.
[audience applauding and cheering]
Good job.
There's two things that are really important,
that the outside have that crunch
and then the inside have that supple, soft, fish-like consistency.
Both those things here are exemplified perfectly.
-Thanks, Chef. You the man. -Thank you.
I might not have won, but I showed you what a Queens boy can do.
My neighborhood's gonna be super proud.
They gonna rag me a little bit but they'll gonna be proud.
-[audience cheering] -Thanks, Damaris.
[groaning] Ugh!
You're already starting with your smarminess
and honestly, it's, it's a turn-off.
Mmm-hmm, for me too.
I distracted him with, like, cat videos.
-The laser. -The laser! Oh, my God,
-I thought we were really working it, you know? -I thought so too.
Let them eat cake! Salmon cake, that is.
[audience cheering and applauding]